Underwater motion has always been a challenge to fisherman, deep sea explorers and hobbyists. The various factors unique to the ocean environment such as salinity, pressure, density and temperature and more present obstacles to be overcome when swimming under the ocean. Because of the aforementioned, scuba equipment designers must offer solutions that can meet the increased demands for performance, portability and streamlining of the propulsion unit.
Prior propulsion units such as that found in U.S. Pat. No. 4,467,742 awarded to Gustavo Duboy (herein incorporated by reference) have provided a novel battery system located on opposite sides of a belt such as shown in FIG. 1. In particular, the '742 patent teaches a battery-powered propulsion unit for a diver's tank has an electric motor driving a propellor and mounted in a housing which is attachable to the lower end of the tank. A belt worn on the diver's waist carries first and second groups of battery holders, each made up of separable halves which are releasably attached to the belt on opposite sides of its buckle. The buckle carries a control switch for the motor which is connected by flexible cables to the motor and to the first and second groups of battery holders.
FIG. 1A presents a prior art solution having a scuba tank harness mounted on a propulsion unit mounted to the back of an individual having a waist mounted battery holder unit. FIG. 1B illustrates a closeup of a cross section of the scuba tank harness, propulsion unit, protective shroud covering the propulsion unit and the electric motor effecting the forwards motion.
This prior art solution has many novelties that were good for the time it was created. However, a failing of this prior art system is that the battery packs are located on opposite sides of the user's waist; another is that the bulky non-streamlined nature of the battery holders create a reduction in fluid flow. These two realities of the prior art system combine to create a drag effect when the propulsion unit is engaged. Thus, there needs to be some solution to overcome the problems found in the prior art.
Accordingly, there remains a need in the art for providing a battery powered propulsion unit that does not suffer from a bulky ungainly battery holder unit.